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Coalmont Road near Princeton reopened after rockslide

Rockslide caught on film

Chelsea Powrie

UPDATE: 7:48 p.m.

Coalmont Road has been reopened after an earlier rockslide, according to the Tulameen and District Fire Department.

In a Facebook post, the fire department said the slide, which happened about 10 kilometres north of Princeton, has been cleared and the road is now open.


ORIGINAL: 1:15 p.m.

A rockslide has closed Coalmont Road outside of Princeton Tuesday.

The road is closed in both directions while crews assess the scene, between Parish Avenue and Charles Road for 1.4 kilometres. The slide is located 10 kilometres north of Princeton.

DriveBC reports commuters should expect "major delays," and that emergency vehicles are on scene.

Dramatic footage of the ongoing slide was captured by Craig LeMottee of Otter Valley Developments, who was on his way to work at a job site in Tulameen when an AIM plow truck driver waived him down.

"He said go slow into that one-way, there are rocks on the road," LeMotee said.

"I pulled up to the top of it, it's a blind hill on a one-way section of the road, and could see enough rocks on the road that I didn't want to proceed. I backed my truck up to a safe spot then got out and [took video]."

The rock slide is not the first to impact roadways in the Similkameen Valley this week. On Monday, a slide hit Highway 3 in Keremeos and forced the evacuation of an RV Park. That highway remains closed.



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